"Down Shadow Street"

(Original air date 01/23/67)
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A deranged judge commits Victoria to an insane asylum to prevent
her testimony that his son is a murderer
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Writer: Ken Trevey

Director: Virgil W. Vogel

As Victoria makes her way to Jarrod’s office after arriving by the late-night stage coach, she hears bloodcurdling screams followed by gunshots. From her vintage point in the shadows she witnesses the cruel murder of a saloon girl, and accidentally catches a glimpse of her assailant’s face.
The young terrorized man throws his gun in a trash can as he runs for his life. Alerted by the commotion, Jarrod rushes to his hysterical mother who says she identified the killer as her godson, Buddy Tyrone (Dan Ferrone).


Jarrod and Victoria accompany the sheriff (James Gavin) to Judge George Tyrone’s (Robert Middleton) mansion to enquire about his son’s whereabouts. The noble man is outraged by Victoria’s preposterous accusations. Buddy himself denies knowing the murdered saloon girl and assures he remained in his room all evening. Despite pressure from father and son Victoria won’t refute her allegation that her cherished godson was the man she saw pulling the trigger on that poor girl.
Victoria knows a kind boy like Buddy wouldn’t open fire on anyone without provocation and asks Jarrod to open an investigation tonight into this odd occurrence, hoping to find the reason that drove him to murder.


Jarrod remains in town to start gathering clues as to what happened. He goes up to the victim’s room where he finds a priceless Chinese heirloom he remembered seeing at the Tyrone’s house. He discovers from saloon girl Ruthie Murphy (Jo Ann Pflug) that her friend Rose was given this statuette as a gift from a prominent citizen she bragged of having on a leash.
Jarrod returns to the ranch to discuss his latest findings with the family. As they head upstairs to turn in for the night, vagrant Ollie Patten (Sammy Reese), a former client of Jarrod’s, brings the murder weapon he saw the shadowy figure toss in the trash the night of the murder. With no other eyewitness to testify, it comes down to Victoria’s word against Buddy’s.
The next day, a reporter sneaks inside the house and surprises Victoria. As he assails her with questions regarding her account of the murder, she calls out to Heath to throw the intruder out the door.


She resigns to the fact that reporters will not cease to harass her until the inquest. She therefore decides to go visit a friend in San Francisco and lay low until tomorrow.
After getting a visit from the sheriff bringing incriminating evidence, Judge Tyrone drops by the jail to try to sway his remorseful son’s decision to confess to the murder. Buddy discovered how the girl manipulated him into thinking she as in love with him, only to use him to seek revenge against the judge for sending her in the workhouse. When she threatened to expose his father, his anger drove him to murder.


Judge Tyrone returns home to find Victoria waiting for him. After a brief discussion that leads to another deadlock, she collapses on the floor. The servant Wing Lee (Kam Tong) confesses to administering a powerful drug that rendered her unconscious. They would use the excuse of her trip to San Francisco to make believe she was the victim of an unfortunate accident. The judge chooses instead of having her committed to an insane asylum to prevent her damaging testimony.


Victoria awakes in a dark cell at Orphir Sanatorium. She demands an explanation as to who sent her there. The daunting guard ( (Dee J. Thompson) refuses to believe she’s Victoria Barkley and denies her request.
Back in Stockton, Nick and Jarrod get word that their mother missed the morning train, thus making her late for the inquest.


Back at the sanatorium, Victoria attempts an escape but she is soon caught when patient Beanie (Amzie Strickland) gets in her way. The administrator Albert Pruitt (Vic Perrin) tries to gentle her but when she decries her imprisonment as a huge mistake, he begins to entertain doubts as to her true identity.
Pruitt travels to Stockton to confront Judge Tyrone with his cockamamie story about the heiress her family wished to put away. He blackmails him for a sum of $5,000 with the threat of going to the sheriff.


At the ranch Nick returns with a wire from Victoria’s friend Minnie saying she never showed up. They begin to suspect a kidnapping in order to prevent her testimony at the inquest.
They drive over to Judge Tyrone’s house intent on wringing the truth out of the old man. Instead, they meet with the house servant who remains tight-lipped about his master’s whereabouts. Jarrod and Buddy threaten the man with an ancient Chinese death ritual designed to scare him into confessing.


It’s lunchtime at the asylum. Alice brings in the patient’s food and as she exits, Victoria wedges in a piece of her shoe sole in the door. When the coast is clear, she simply pushes the door open, locks the meddlesome Beanie in and makes a mad dash for the exit.
Unable to scale the high gate of the property, Victoria escapes through the woods with Judge Tyrone hot on her trail. She seeks shelter inside an abandoned mine.


Soon, her sons and Buddy find her and try to reason with Tyrone to surrender. He fires his gun, unaware that the shot hit his son who later dies in his arms.
Once Tyrone is thrown in jail for his participation in Victoria’s imprisonment, she deplores the situation but understands why the man behaved of the sort. He stood for honest justice all his life but when it came to his son, he was more father than judge.



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